Fear is only your Own
by ebonyXivory777
Summary: Fear shrouds my life now. People stare at me as if I was going to lose control and unleash holy hell. But I will never let that happen. And that is not who I am. I am Wanda Maximoff and I just want to be me. But sometimes, I really, really don't. Because in the inside I know I'm a monster.


AN-This is a little one shot of my favorite Avenger couple.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Fear is only your Own**

Do you fear me?

That is the question is ask people, but only in my mind.

With my powers flickering in their ruby depths, unimaginable potential literally at my fingertips, I always ask this question when I face these people in front of me.

And when they look at me, men, woman, children, and other life forms that were once unfathomable to others, they all say the same thing.

Yes.

Their eyes reflect their fear. Their bodies bleed their discomfort. And their voices…they are distant and cold as a winter's tundra.

All. Every one of them look the same when they look at me. They won't say it outright. Oh no. They don't need to. They try to hide it from me, but that never works, because I can always see through their false cheer and pleasantries.

Even this so called Avengers team I am now a part of fear me. The ones the Earth call heroes. Beings with fathomless powers and skill. People that are put on a metaphorical pedestal of supremacy, and dare I say godliness. These are the people who are long fought and striven for their wins, for what they believed was right. With blood, sweat, and tears. Scars and markings to claim their hardships and battles, and yet they also look at me with caution.

The one they call the captain. The all-American scout of goodness. For all his smiling kindness and generally good disposition, he is weary of me. I see it when we are at team practices. How he watches me more than others. Sure he can use the excuse that I am the newest and least experienced person on the team, but whenever I let my powers envelop me in their familiar presence, his posture stiffens, his eyes dart quickly to me, even for a split second, his body tight as if to brace for a battle….against me. Sure he does that less often now that I've been on the team for a couple of months….but still.

And then there is Stark. Never have I met a man I so wholly despised yet could do nothing about. It is only now that I have learned to accept him as a constant in my life as he is also part of the team, but apparently he does not feel the same. "Little witch" that is what he calls me in the disgustingly chipper tone of his. Sure he gives names to all of his teammates, but this one is particularly insulting. To call me such is saying that I am cursed, a monster. Clearly he does not know what true monster are like. After all, he was one long before I was born.

Then there are the duo assassins. The Russian and the archer. I must admit I like them well enough. Both have been kind enough to me after the battle with Ultron. Their "tough" love being in how they train me to be better, faster and more in control of my emotions. Sometimes it works, others…not so much. But I appreciate their efforts. However, their altruistic efforts all goes down into making sure I am not a threat, a menace.

And sometimes, just sometimes I think it is justified. Because I don't know the extent of my true powers. Powers that could hurt. Kill with just a flick of my wrist and a sour temper.

There are the other Avengers, but I do not know them well enough to gauge them. Sure I know they are also weary and cautious of me, but for me to truly see them as "friends" I cannot do so without more than a handful of interactions here and there. People like Colonel Rhodes A.K.A War machine, Sam Wilson A.K.A the falcon, Thor the Norse god of thunder and The Hulk….only someone who everybody seemed to be more afraid of them me.

But with all those people, there is only one that seems less, if not at all afraid and more intrigued by me. The android. Vision. Like a child in a candy store, this man or machine sees the world as a new puzzle piece waiting to be dissected and solved for his delight. To find all the secrets and pleasures of life and experience them as he never did as an A.I.

For that alone made me cautious of him. He was more of a mystery than I ever was.

And I hated that fact.

Not that he was more shrouded by unanswered questions and unknown secrets, but that I was a hypocrite for fearing him as how he was.

Just as I am.

But he approached me, unlike the others, with child-like enthusiasm and curiously all packed into a 6 foot tall maroon humanoid.

"Wanda," he asks one day out of the blue, "have you ever been aware of people around you. Of how they are aware of you?"

"We are all aware of each other, Vision. Or else we would be bumping into one another all the time." I spoke with casual boredom and a lazy wave of my hand as I continued to read my magazine before this conversation started.

"You know that is not what I meant." He quietly sat down next to me on the plush couch in the Avengers abode.

I waited as I turned my focus on him.

"Afraid. Have you ever been aware of the fear of others around you?"

Where was he going with this?

"I see it, you know, in people's eyes…..and sometimes their minds. Of me…..and you."

"Where are you going with this?" I did not like the direction of this conversation. I didn't want to talk about this.

"As I know, people fear what they do not know, and you and I," he said as he pointed between them both, "are anomalies. I have also realize that we do not seem to assimilate ourselves into society as well as we could."

I gave him a bland look as I stared into his blue eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

"I am," he seemed to try to find the right words, "willing to try a little experiment of sorts that I would like your participation with."

I started to feel leery of what he might suggest. Did he want us both to parade in the midst of people, happily claiming what we were? Monsters to be feared?

"Vision, what are you suggesting?"

"Wanda," he asked as he looked directly into my eyes, "humans are often found more comfortable when in the presence of those that they can somehow relate to."

"And?"

"And I was thinking that one of those ways was to see that people, like us are not so different from them is to be seen as a group. A sociable one."

I was not seeing at all where this was going.

"Wanda, humans who are seen in relationships are seen a somewhat less….dangerous because they are seen as able to form bonds. And with forming bonds, it is all about compromise and understanding. I thought perhaps if we started out small, the two of us, we would work into bigger groups of familiarity."

My mind was slowly understanding what he was implying but I refused to believe in what he was suggesting.

"Tell me exactly what you want?" I demanded growing tired of him talking in circles.

"Will you form a companionable bond with me, Wanda?"

I sat there silent as I tried to fully comprehend his words.

Slowly I spoke, "are you asking me out?"

"Asking you out?"

"You know," I started to grow uncomfortable and fidgeted in my seat, my eyes suddenly downcast. "Like on a date or something," I mumbled the last two words.

He seemed thoughtful for a moment and I had a horrifying thought that I misinterpreted what he was saying, but it did seem an awful lot like he was asking me out.

"Is that what you would want?" He then asked.

"NO!" I near-shouted. Realizing what I did, I hid my eye behind the curtain of my chocolate locks and mumbled out more softly, "no, that is not what I want."

Nodding, not bothered by my outburst, "I was thinking more in the lines as…..friends. We both know that no matter how hospitable the Avengers are still…guarded around us. Maybe seeing us, the two anomalies," he quirked his lips, "in a more favorable light would change that."

"And that is by seeing us hanging around each other?"

"It's worth a try, is it not? Do you agree to participate?"

I thought for a long moment then answered.

"Yes."

* * *

This actually went very differently towards the end that my original plan. It could even be more than a one-shot, but I'll see if this story is liked enough to continue.

Please Review!


End file.
